43.10 Checking the Locks: Left Field

[crobillard]

This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the sixth of eleven parts. I will be taking a look into the left field position in this post.

Sure fire locks: Jose Salas, Wilson Villanuela
Trying to get in the door: Sam Cop, Lorenzo Leon

The story going forward in this series is the loss of Myeung-hwan Kim and how the team will replace him. Cop who is on his third team in a week or so, is probably closest to Kim's archetype, but there are others in the outfield that have been waiting patiently for an opportunity as well. This decision will be an extremely tough one.

Salas is mostly a DH, but he'll fill in left field if I need him, which I hope I don't, but Villanuela is fragile, so it's possible. I might try putting Salas in the field anyways and moving another player to DH. Haven't decided how I want to move things around yet. Salas is such a beast though. A year after doing .335/.434/.504 he does .309/.401/.499. He had 52 doubles, 11 triples and a 3.8 WAR. He's a very strong player that absolutely crushes lefties. He'll continue to crush in the lineup. Not going anywhere.

My actual left fielder is Villanuela. He a 12 rated left fielder and a 11 rated right fielder, so I'll have him bounce back in forth. If he played all 162 games the last few years I'm sure he'd be good for around a couple WAR. For his career he's been a .303/.352/.436 hitter in 363 games and he's solid on the basepaths. It's no wonder why Edmonton decided to go forward with Villanuela over Kim.

After that, it's a battle between two players who should never be in the field, but could make a good pinch hitter. Cop is a 7/5/5/3/7 LHB with 8/6/5/4/7 ratings against RHP and he doesn't have a big handicap against LHP. He's likely able to steal a bunch of bases to with a 10 speed and 11 stealing. Leon is the much stronger offensive option, but he can only hit against RHP. Against RHP he's rated 6/8/7/5/6, so it's possible we could see him if we need a pinch hit bat, but I'm not sure who I could want him at the plate in substitution of and that's the biggest question to having a pinch hitter option off the bench.